2013 "Rapley Trail Vineyard Henry Ayrton's Block" Estate Pinot Noir

The Rapley Trail Vineyard (avg. elev. 1650ft.) was planted
in 1981, consisting of six contiguous acres of Pinot Noir vines on
our Estate's rugged southeastern slopes. It has long been the
backbone of our past "Estate Reserve" Pinot Noir, but beginning in
2002 we have begun to bottle portions of the vineyard separately.
This "deconstruction" displays the unique aspects and interactions
of soil and climate that account for grapes whose flavor is a
direct product of where they are grown; this is terroir.

Henry Ayrton's Block, formerly known as the 'B' Block, lies
at the lowest portion of the Rapley Trail Vineyard and is always
the first block to ripen; its position at the bottom of the
vineyard allows for some protection from the elements. The soil is
fractured shale, shallow and well drained. These factors contribute
to a unique flavor profile, great texture and dense
mouthfeel.

VINTAGE

2013 will go down as one of the earliest harvest in the
history of Thomas Fogarty Winery. The vines responded to the
drought like winter conditions and mild spring by budding out very
early. Bloom began in early May in the Will's Cabin Pinot Noir, a
month earlier than the norm. We experienced a particulary windy May
that was punctuated by a low pressure system that rolled through
the last week of the month dropping almost a quarter-inch of rain.
This severely lowered yields in some of our later flowering, and
best, vineyrds: Rapley Trail, Albutom and Portola Springs. Yields
were also likely lower across the board due to the lack of winter
rainfall the last two seasons The majority of our vineyards were
dry-farmed this year. This resulted in thicker skins, more tannin
and freat flavors, but likely less fruit - such is the trade of
between quality and quantity in viticulture. Harvest began with the
early ripening Swan Pinot Noir in Will's Cabin on August 17 and,
strangley, finished with Gewurztraminer on October
4.

WINEMAKING

Our winemaking is focused on allowing the unique signature
of each vineyard site to be expressed. We harvested Henry Ayrton's
Block on September 14. It is nearly always the first block to
ripen in the vineyard. We utilized 40% whole clusters in this
spontaneous fermentation for their positive contribution to
aromatics and mouthfeel. Time on skins was 18 days before pressing
to 33% new, 3 year air-dried, tight-grained French Oak. We
separated the press fraction at the press, and chose not to include
it in the final bottling. The 2012 Rapley Trail Vineyard, Henry
ayrton's Block rested in oak for 18months. Bottled unfined and
unfiltered.

TASTING NOTES

The most structured and fruit driven block in Rapley.
Seriously concentrated and age worthy.